In many healthcare facilities (e.g., hospitals), a central sterilization services department (CSSD) is responsible for carrying out inactivation procedures (e.g., sterilization, disinfection, and decontamination) on medical utensils, surgical instruments, and other articles found in the healthcare facility (collectively referred to herein as “medical instruments”). The workspace for a conventional CSSD is physically arranged such that there is (i) a soiled area and (ii) a clean area which is isolated from the soiled area. Soiled medical instruments are loaded into an inactivation apparatus (such as a disinfector/washer or sterilizer) in the soiled area, and the processed medical instruments are unloaded from the inactivation apparatus in the clean area.
A rack (e.g., a manifold rack) is used to facilitate transportation and processing of the medical instruments within the workspace of the CSSD. At a first location (within the soiled area), soiled medical instruments are loaded onto a rack. Subsequently, the full rack is moved to a second location (within the soiled area) for loading into an inactivation apparatus. When the inactivation procedure is completed, the full rack is unloaded from the inactivation apparatus at a third location (within the clean area), and moved to a fourth location (within the clean area) where the medical instruments are unloaded from the rack. The empty rack is then returned to the soiled area for reuse.
In prior art rack processing systems used in connection with washers/disinfectors, it is known to use automation to load racks into the washer/disinfector and to unload racks from the washer/disinfector. However, in the prior art, transfer carts are used to manually transport racks between the location where racks are loaded with the soiled medical instruments and the location of an automated loader or conveyer used to load racks into the washer/disinfector. Transfer carts are also used by operators to manually transport a rack between the location of an automated unloader or conveyer that receives a rack unloaded from the washer/disinfector and the location where the medical instruments are unloaded from the rack.
The present invention overcomes these and other drawbacks of the prior art by providing a robot-based system for processing racks used for transportation of articles in connection with an inactivation procedure.